This invention relates to a dual mode ultrasound imaging system which generates and simultaneously displays a two-dimensional B-scan image of the organ or other portion of the human body being examined and a color Doppler image of blood flow information that is spatially coordinated with and superimposed upon that B-scan image.
In the prior art, B-mode images have been displayed along with separately displayed Doppler information acquired along a single line that may be oriented in a direction different from the scanning lines which generate the B-scan image. Prior art U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,182,173; 4,217,909; 4,398,540; 4,318,413 and 4,141,347 are examples. Sector scanned B-mode gray-scale image information and color-encoded Doppler data also have been simultaneously displayed where the Doppler information is acquired in multiple samples and multiple lines in the same direction as is the B-mode image information.